For the first time in 2013, the Director introduced this system at NIT Warangal. The base rate was fixed by the Director as Rs. 78/- without involving the Chief Warden or Wardens. Since some of the tenderers quoted less than the base rate, their financial bids were rejected. Only one caterer (Sai Krupa Catering and maintenance services, Hyderabad) quoted exactly Rs. 78/- . As the other caterers, who quoted above to this rate denied to provide the services to this rate, the tenders were recalled.

During the same time Subramanyam, working at Hostel Office and Clerk for the ladies hostel, with the consent of the Director contacted the other two caterers Sri Raja Rajeswari Catering Services, Chennai and Sakthi Kitchen, Chennai (who provided catering services at IFC) before opening of the technical bids at Kalam guest House of NIT Warangal and got a deal for Rs. 50 lakhs kickback from all the three caterers for revealing the base rate to them. The three caterers quoted the daily rate exactly same as the base rate fixed by the Director and got the tender for the year 2013. The payment transactions between caterers and subramanayam took place in the Manager room (Sai Krupa Caterer) in the Ladies Hostel in the nights between 9.00PM to 11.00PM.

With this success and taste of bribes, again for the year 2014, the same three caterers (even though the other caterers quoted less daily rate) got the tender by quoting the daily rate as Rs. 90.01, Rs, 90.02 and Rs. 90.03 which was very near to the base rate of Rs. 90/- fixed by the Director. This time Subramanyam with the
consent of the Director made an agreement of Rs. 10/- per student per day for revealing the base rate. He and the Director got a kickback of Rs.1 crore (Rs. 10 x 3500 students x 10 months). Subramanyam collected the money in cash from the Caterers on instalment basis.

The speculating thing is that an enquiry was made on the tendering process at NIT Nagpur, when the difference between the base rate and rate quoted by the caterers of Rs. 1/- . Even though the difference between the base rate and rate quoted by the caterers is 1paise, 2 paise and 3 paise no enquiry was conducted at NIT Warangal against the Director.

For the year 2015-16 also, the Director and his mischief-maker (Subramanyam) implemented the same technique and thought of getting a kickback of Rs. 1.5 crore from the caterers. Unfortunately the tenders were cancelled and new procedure was introduced after Board of Governors intervention or Chief Warden intervention. They (The Director, Subramanyam and the three caterers) thought that the previous Chief Warden was responsible for cancelling the tenders, made him victim and sacked him. On the suggestion of the Director and Subramanynam, the three caterers wrote letter to the Director that making the base rate public and fixing it as Rs 86/- is illogical and unfair.

Finally the financial bids were opened and the daily rate for 2015-15 was finalized as Rs. 81.70/-.

It is interesting that one of the previous three caterers, Sai Krupa Caterers, Hyderabad got the tender. This caterer is the most dangerous culprit. He contacted the caterers from Hyderabad, conducted several meeting at NIT Guest house and convinced them to be part for the bribes to the Director with the help of Subramanyam, if the tender was awarded to them. All the caterers from Hyderabad including the previous three caterers quoted Rs. 81.70/- which is Rs 8.30/- less than the previous years base rate. The surprising thing is that the caterer from Nagpur who benefitted the Director at VNIT Nagpur got the tender.

We are really sorry for disturbing you at this Nth hour of the semester. But it is imperative to bring this very important issue forward which effects our lives. The MHRD ministry through vide advertisement number F.No.34 -8/2015 – TS.III has called for appointment of new Director to NITW. It is our duty, if not responsibility, as a stake holder of NIT Warangal to place records on table and seek justice for all of us.

NIT Warangal has been bleeding for the last 10 years due to corruption by the Director’s. First it was the previous Director Prof.Y.V.Rao and now by our alumnus cum Director Prof.T.S.Rao. It is not a secret among the administration that Mr. & Mrs.T.S.Rao have made NIT Warangal as their family fiefdom.

May be it is in our fate that we need to suffer due to inaction of other stake holders of this institute, namely, the Faculty, the Students Council and NIT Warangal Alumni Association. Hence it is high time that we, Asthra, open up in public and see through that the efforts of Asthra to bar appoint of Prof. T.S.Rao further as Director of NIT Warangal or any other NIT do not go in vain.

Way back in 2010 the students have played a pivotal role in ousting the then corrupt Director Prof.Y.V.Rao. The collective efforts of students, faculty and non-teaching staff resonated in the power corridors of MHRD and led to few systematic changes in governance of NITs. Such was the power of collective effort and anger against corruption from NIT Warangal.

Therefore, we at Asthra solicit your support to bring an end to this ongoing maladministration and corruption at NIT Warangal. With Asthra’s efforts we bring to your notice the list of corruption at NIT Warangal by Mr. & Mrs. T.S.Rao.

Also, following the complaints of corruption and mal administration at NITW a preliminary enquiry committee constitution was called by the previous Chairman of NITW Dr.Krishna Ella. Till date the enquiry committee has not seen light and we have learnt that the current Director is seeking another 5 year term as NITW Director.

The following is the list of cases of corruption by Mr. & Mrs. T.S.Rao:

S.No.

Item

Remark

Reference

1.

International food court(IFC) & Ladies Hostel Mess

Last year Director received kickbacks of Rs.4 to 10 every day from each student enrolled in IFC. Base price of tender was Rs.77 but tenders were awarded at Rs. 90.05 and Rs.90.09

No accounts and procurement practices are followed at Hostel office. As a result huge commissions are made from purchases by Director and his henchmen at Hostel office. As a result students continue to pay inflated bills even today.

a. Repeated water purifying equipment’s worth crores were purchased in spite of knowing the fact that ground water at NITW is of very high turbidity and regular water purifiers do not work.

b. Just to receive kickbacks from contractor supplying drinking water work on municipal water supply to NIT Hostels and Messes has been stopped. Lakhs of rupees are paid from student pocket to contractor every month.

To escape Income Tax scrutiny money received as bribes is being deposited in the form of chits runs run by small firms in Warangal

6.

Tenders

Works worth crores are willfully split into pieces worth below Rs.50 Lakh so that works can be given on nomination basis. Thus paving way for nexus among Director and contractor and easier collection of bribes

7.

Vardhaman Security

Director received bribes by inflating number of security persons employed by the contractor

7.

Administrative posts

Administrative posts are auctioned by Director with the help of his henchmen to receive bribes. Promotions and assignments are given to those faculty who are yes men of Director.

8.

Visit by MHRD minister Mrs.Smriti Irani

2 crores was the amount that the Director spent on the visit by the Minister

9.

Chandiyagam

Chandiyagam was performed, February 2012, on the name of god just to receive donations (kickbacks) from contractors.

10.

Royal Enfield Motorcycles

5 Royal Enfield’s have been distributed by the Director keep the Student leaders as yes men of administration.

The above list is not exhaustive. The corruption done by Prof.T.S.Rao needs an in detailed inquiry as ingenuine ways which are difficult to visualize were employed to siphon money. There is an opinion that the Director Prof.T.S.Rao himself has made 15 to 20 crore from these kickbacks. Heance enquiry committee is need of the hour as ordered by previous Chairman.

Few might ask, why do not we approach courts if our allegations are true? Yes! We would approach the court if Prof.T.S.Rao is reappointed as Director of any NIT. But before that this campaign has to bring pressure on Ministry. We need to wait for Ministry’s stand.

We do have our vested interests in running this campaign. As alumnus of NIT Warangal our careers take an effect when MHRD ranks NIT Warangal at number 28(NIT Warangal was ranked No.7 (All India) and 1st among NITs in 2006 by IDC-Dataquest-Nasscom). Alumni at starting of their careers will be seen with skepticism by the industry. The esteem associated with NITW brand is lowered. Students’ placements get affected. Faculty recruitment takes effect and the cream might not prefer NITW as a place to teach and do research. Tomorrow, who knows, MHRD might tie funds with performance in NIRF(National Institutional Ranking Framework). In short every stake holder of NIT Warangal is effected by the corrupt and maladministration of current Director Prof.T.S.Rao. There is very danger of NITW being ranked at number 50 in the next round of NIRF.

If you believe in what we have presented please sign our petition on change.org. If you do not believe, we request, you at least not to take side of corrupt Director Prof.T.S.Rao.

Lastly we request you not to fall in trap to the words of few Students’ council leaders who themselves are shareholders in this malaise. Also beware of Professors who rob the institute with fake ‘chai ka paisa’ bills.

Our talent and hard work do not deserve these scums!

Help us by signing our petition to Smriti Irani at https://goo.gl/BknT37

This is your chance to tell the administration of NITW to implement RTI act in its true spirit. Help improve the administration of institutes like NIT.Click to sign the petition.

Asthra was formed by a few like minded students and alumni of National Institute of Technology(NIT), Warangal,Andhra Pradesh. With an aim to bring in more transparency and accountability in the education system. Since then, we have been trying our best to make sure that the landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act is implemented in letter and spirit in NITW. While we have been partly successful in making them disclose certain details, a lot needs to be done.

This campaign is an effort to pressurize and awaken the administration of NITW. Your invaluable support in this endeavour will go a long way in changing things at NITW and thereby triggering a change in the education system at large.

It has been more than 6 years that RTI has come into force.Even today RTI implementation at NIT Warangal is given the least preference.We at Team Asthra have always been in forefront in the issue of implementation of RTI and preparation of RTI manuals,at your offices from last 2 years .We have written dozens of letters and emails.

Lack of awareness about RTI act itself among the CPIO and APIO’s show how committed NIT Warangal is towards RTI implementation.Its is not for once but for many times we have come across the table to negotiate and emphasise the importance of RTI implmentation at NIT Warangal.We gave all the volunteer help(4 in number) and prepared a 5 page document for you even though it was not our job.Our concern for maladministration at NIT Warangal has made us knock your doors regularly.We did even stress on how useful is RTI manual in governance of NIT Warangal for smooth functioning and ease of work.

All our efforts, pursuance and withdrawal from a protest in month of August 2011 has only made us go more worried.

6 years and still not even a single RTI session for administrative officers of NIT Warangal has been conducted.The administration has been successful only in beating around the bush when it has come to implementation of RTI act. We have been facing and bearing all the insult at your offices for our fundamental right, Right to Information. We are afraid on what message you want to send across to people of this country by not being transparent and carrying out various process of administration within the four walls.

Had the institute put sincere effort as the Director did in performing Chandiyagam to drive away evil spirits we would have not written this email to you today.

We have no other option other than launching an online campaign from February 8th 2012 to wake you up.

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 21,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

]]>https://theasthra.org/2012/01/01/2011-in-review/feed/0asthranitw55 Lakhs is all that they spent on medicines for students at NIT Warangalhttps://theasthra.org/2011/12/09/55-lakhs-is-all-that-they-spent-on-medicines-for-students-at-nit-warangal/
https://theasthra.org/2011/12/09/55-lakhs-is-all-that-they-spent-on-medicines-for-students-at-nit-warangal/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2011 21:05:43 +0000http://asthranitw.wordpress.com/?p=721A whopping 55 lakhs was spent for purchase of medicines at NIT Warangal dispensary for the last 3 years. This exuberant figure came into light in one of the RTI’s filed by Mundhuadugu-A RTI initiative Eenadu (Telugu news daily). NIT Warangal dispensary caters to the needs of the faculty, non-teaching and students of the institute. The dispensary runs with 1 medical officer and 3 doctors. The medicines at the dispensary are purchased from the contractor and are given for free to the members on the prescription of doctors. While dispersing the medicines to the patients a note of the medicines distributed is recorded in the register.

Records show that Rs.16 lakhs was spent for 2436 students treated at the dispensary. While Rs.18 Lakhs was spent for treating 6094 students in 2009,Rs.21 lakhs was spent for 6365 students treated for the year 2010.

Interestingly the records show that in the last 3 years only 6 professors have been treated at NIT Warangal and it has come to notice that faculty is receiving medicines for the prescription taken from outside the NIT Dispensary. A figure of Rs.10 Lakh per annum can be added to the above figures if one takes non-teaching staff into consideration.

Dispensary RTI

]]>https://theasthra.org/2011/12/09/55-lakhs-is-all-that-they-spent-on-medicines-for-students-at-nit-warangal/feed/0asthranitwNIT Dispensary -Telugu3 professors at IIT KGP swindle 28.7 Croreshttps://theasthra.org/2011/12/04/3-professors-at-iit-kgp-swindle-28-7-crores/
https://theasthra.org/2011/12/04/3-professors-at-iit-kgp-swindle-28-7-crores/#respondSun, 04 Dec 2011 15:26:53 +0000http://asthranitw.wordpress.com/?p=716Three professors of IIT Kharagpur colluded in a Rs. 28.7 Crore scam under the pretext of developing a software named COALNET for Coal India Ltd.Till date no action has been taken on them in spite of letter from CBI to Director of IIT KGP to levy major penalty against two of the professors and minor penalty against the third professor.

All the 3 professors continue to enjoy privileges at IIT Kharagpur with one of them being promoted to the post of Dean.

]]>https://theasthra.org/2011/12/04/3-professors-at-iit-kgp-swindle-28-7-crores/feed/0asthranitwWikileaks Needs Youhttps://theasthra.org/2011/10/30/wikileaks-needs-you/
https://theasthra.org/2011/10/30/wikileaks-needs-you/#respondSun, 30 Oct 2011 05:18:46 +0000http://asthranitw.wordpress.com/?p=707WikiLeaks is under attack by the big financial services companies , but there are still ways you can beat them.

As a result of exposing U.S. embassies from around the world, five major US financial institutions, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union and the Bank of America, have tried to economically strangle WikiLeaks The attack has blocked over 95% of our donations, costing tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The attack is entirely political. In fact, in the only formal review to occur, the US Treasury found that there were no lawful grounds to add WikiLeaks to financial blockade .

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With our partners Fundrazr you can use PayPal to donate to the WikiLeaks and Julian Assange Defence Fund. This fund was established to cover the legal defence fees of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks staff. Derek Rothera & Company is appointed to administer this Fund. The trust is audited and can only spend funds on Julian Assange & other WikiLeaks staff’s legal defense. The terms of the tust and its trustees can be found here . It is governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.’

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]]>https://theasthra.org/2011/10/30/wikileaks-needs-you/feed/0asthranitwWikileaks Needs YouFlattrFlattrBoxPayBitcoinMoneygramAll is not well at NIT Warangalhttps://theasthra.org/2011/10/19/all-is-not-well-at-nit-warangal/
https://theasthra.org/2011/10/19/all-is-not-well-at-nit-warangal/#commentsWed, 19 Oct 2011 14:26:58 +0000http://asthranitw.wordpress.com/?p=642The administration of NIT Warangal is yet to take corrective action over serious shortcomings and irregularities highlighted by CAG in its audit report submitted this September on Performance of NIsT from the period 2005 to 2010. The response of the administration to this report remains to be seen.

It is observed that the administration is busy in playing a blame game with the Non teaching staff rather than exploring ways to overcome the shortcomings in the smooth functioning of the institute. Most issues raised by Team Asthra were pointed to the ‘inefficiency and shortage of Non Teaching staff’. But the findings of CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) tell a different story. The CAG report says there were an excess of 13.3 percent Non-Teaching staff (477 Non teaching staff are employed over 421 as per norms).

It looks like the non implementation of RTI act in letter and spirit can be attributed to lack of interest in the administration about tranparency and accountability in its working. The CAG report observes that massive works worth 6.23 crores were carried out during the years 2008-09 and 2009-10 without obtaining recommendations of Building and Works Committee (BWC), that is responsible for all major construction works after obtaining the necessary administrative approval and sanction of expenditure from Board of Governors (BOGs). This points to a serious procedural lapse and abuse of power that can lead to corruption.

The NIT Warangal administration also seems to be taking in more students than approved. The report observed that 20 students in Electronics and Communication Engineering, 2 students in Mechanical Engineering and 2 students in Chemical Engineering were admitted in excess and against the norms (The administration did not provide data for Civil Engineering and Computer science courses).

The biggest shortcoming and a matter of great concern for NIT Warangal is the non-accreditation of undergraduate Biotechnology course and 16 other post graduate courses by National Board of Accreditation(NBA). Many local engineering colleges in Hyderabad have a A+ star rating for their Biotechnology course from the NBA.

While faculty shortage of 209 members is a major issue, in-house training for the current faculty also did not take place for the last 5 years. Interestingly NIT Warangal which boasts of placements is not the best among the NIsT when the average (B.Tech + M.Tech) of the placements is taken. Also the institute does not have sufficient number of computers and there is a shortage of 196 computers which would cater needs of 784 students.

The only parameter on which NIT Warangal stood ahead of other NIsT was the hostel facility however poor class room facilities and lack of 38 lecture halls (Lecture Hall and Class room are different) continue to haunt.

There is urgent need for revitalizing academics at NIT Warangal. Transparency and Accountability in the governance should be given the utmost priority in this time of crisis. The task of turning this around lies upon the senate which is responsible for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examination in the Institute and the vision of the Director who shall ride the chariot.